Readers below the line have been discussing the ongoing crisis in the NHS, after an advisor to Jeremy Hunt said that some hospitals were in a state of “war”, such is the pressure they are under.
Speaking to the BBC, the health secretary said there was “no excuse” for some of the problems currently affecting the NHS.
“It is incredibly frustrating for me,” said Hunt. “I am doing this job because I want NHS care to be the safest and best in the world. That kind of care is completely unacceptable. No one would want it for members of their own family.”
Here are some views from the comments.
It must be reinforced over and over again that the austerity policies carried out by the coalition were going to have consequences. You cannot cut that deeply without causing serious damage to the multitude of community care and support services. Inevitably, we are seeing the effects of these cuts on the health service.
Aside from the effects on we patients and users of the service, the people who work in the National Health Service are not miracle workers; many are being pushed to their limits through stress. It is not acceptable. The amount of goodwill so many NHS workers have for the health system, the huge amounts of unpaid overtime for example, this is what keeps it going in many places but it is being pushed towards destruction.
There is insufficient coverage of the state of mental health too. There is unprecedented demand (clearly we are not such a happy people...!) and evidence that precious funding is being diverted - in desperation - to general healthcare. I have spent a couple of years working alongside a community mental health team and the pressure is relentless, staff leaving are not replaced, caseloads are beyond impossible to cope with and community support services have been the victim of cut after cut.
Maybe there are government MPs and ministers who were naive and ignorant enough to believe that cuts would have no real effect; that it was just excess 'fat,' maybe they believed the right wing propaganda of the press. But Hunt and his colleagues have been caught out here, it is all unraveling faster than they could believe; social care, health, prisons, all victims of unprecedented cuts and the chickens (or is it pigeons?!) are coming home to roost.
I’m not writing my usual blog today but here, as an alternative, is the Politics Live readers’ edition. It is a place for you to discuss today’s politics, and to share links to breaking news and to the most interesting stories and blogs on the web.
Feel free to express your views robustly, but please treat others with respect and don’t resort to abuse. Guardian comment pages are supposed to be a haven from the Twitter/social media rant-orama, not an extension of it.
You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.
And here are some of the main ones on our site this morning.
- Theresa May has been criticised by the archbishop of Canterbury and a growing number of Tory MPs over her government’s decision to limit a scheme to provide a haven in Britain to unaccompanied refugee children in Europe.
- Rebecca Long-Bailey, the MP for Salford, has been promoted to the job of shadow business secretary, as Jeremy Corbyn replaces the members of the shadow cabinet who resigned rather than vote to trigger article 50 and begin the Brexit process.
- Hospitals are under such extreme pressure that they are in a state of “war”, a key government adviser on the NHS has admitted, in a frank assessment of the health service’s deepening crisis.
- Theresa May’s attempt to reclaim control of UK borders after Brexit could reduce annual migration from the EU by just 50,000 – one-sixth of the current overall annual figure, according to new research.
- A senior EU official has cast doubt over claims that an independent Scotlandcould automatically join the EU or inherit the UK’s membership after Brexit.
On Thursday nights local council byelections take place. There were five last night. Britain Elects has the results.
Five council by-elections tonight: two Conservative defences, one Labour, one Ratepayer and one free-for-all.https://t.co/Q1lXVZyIHg pic.twitter.com/NofjQ7f1vO
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) February 9, 2017
Liberal Democrat GAIN Fairford North (Cotswold) from Conservative.
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) February 9, 2017
Fairford North (Cotswold) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) February 9, 2017
LDEM: 68.1% (+40.2)
CON: 30.1% (-20.9)
GRN: 1.8% (+1.8)
UKIP didn't stand this time round.
Labour HOLD Kingswood & Hazel Leys (Corby).
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) February 9, 2017
Kingswood & Hazel Leys (Corby) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) February 9, 2017
LAB: 64.6% (+10.3)
CON: 26.7% (+12.5)
GRN: 8.7% (-1.1)
No UKIP candidate
Liberal Democrat GAIN Waterside (North Norfolk) from Conservative.
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) February 9, 2017
Waterside (North Norfolk) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) February 9, 2017
LDEM: 55.1% (+19.8)
CON: 34.8% (-4.8)
UKIP: 6.5% (+6.5)
LAB: 3.5% (-8.5)
No Green this time round.
UKIP GAIN Great & Little Oakley (Tendring) from Independent.
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) February 9, 2017
Great & Little Oakley (Tendring) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) February 9, 2017
UKIP: 36.8% (+14.1)
CON: 29.1% (+1.4)
LAB: 19.9% (+5.5)
LDEM: 14.1% (+14.1)
No Independent as prev.
Fylde Ratepayers HOLD St John's (Fylde).
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) February 9, 2017
St John's (Fylde) result:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) February 9, 2017
FRAT: 60.8% (+15.9)
CON: 30.0% (+4.4)
LAB: 4.9% (-8.4)
GRN: 4.3% (+4.3)
No IND and LDEM candidate as previous.
Tonight's results:
— Britain Elects (@britainelects) February 10, 2017
Two Lib Dem gains (from Con).
One UKIP gain (from Ind).
One Labour hold.
One Ratepayer hold.https://t.co/JqAQyZHnPh x pic.twitter.com/JarFW2mSfQ
Well nice of him to acknowledge there is a problem!
The only solution however, appears to be a “big transformation programme” to treat more people at home or in the community to ease burdens on hospitals. Which sounds great, but how does that sit with Hunt's department slashing social care budgets and provision which cause an increased burden on hospitals in the first place?